socorro police department

Socorro Police Department

The following items were taken from reports at the Socorro Police Department

May 3

Police received a call that someone was seen trying to break into vehicles at Center and McCutcheon. The officer located the suspect and observed her trying to enter two separate vehicles. The suspect claimed she was trying to find her vehicle, but then began to run off as the officer was talking with her. She was told she was not free to leave and was arrested and booked into the SCDC.

An officer on patrol spotted a juvenile riding a mini-motorized bike on the main roadway and conducted a traffic stop at California and College and asked the juvenile why she was riding on the roadway. The suspect said she was told she could ride on the street as long as she wore goggles. She gave her name but did not have an operator’s license, and would not provide a date of birth. The suspect was detained and a check of the CAD system came back with a birthdate showing her to be 12 years old. The officer towed the motorbike and released the juvenile suspect to a family member.

Officers were called at 9:17 p.m. to the scene of a domestic dispute on Coulson Drive. A male who was standing in the yard told the officers his wife was tearing up his shirts and was threatening to burn his clothes in the backyard. The victim was escorting the officer through the home when his wife stepped out and pushed him. An officer attempted to place her in handcuffs but she was resisting and pulling away from the officer. The officer used an armbar to take her to the ground and then placed handcuffs on her. The male victim was now upset and an assisting officer arrived and escorted him outside. The officers met with both parties and obtained statements. No arrests were made and the female agreed to stay in the camper outside the home for the night.

Officers were called at 7:21 p.m. to the 1100 block of Chaparral Drive on a report of a man shooting a dog. The officers were advised the male ran to the back of the residence. When the officers arrived, they were flagged down by a teenager who was with the person who shot the dog. He said he was walking home when the dog came running out of a yard trying to attack the male, who appeared to be in fear of the dog and shot it. The male told the officers he had the gun in his waistband for protection. The officer recovered the handgun from the male’s grandmother, who explained that the male carries the gun because the dog is loose and chases him. The officer met with witnesses who stated they saw the male walking home when the dog ran out of the yard and went after him. The male began to run from the dog, then turned around and fired at the dog with the pistol. The deceased dog was shown to the officer. An officer attempted to meet with the owner of the dog who was not home. The male was not charged for shooting the dog.

A caller reported at 3:31 a.m. of hearing loud music in the neighborhood. The officers located the source of the music on Spring Street and advised the homeowner to turn down the music.

An officer was dispatched at 4:08 a.m. for a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the Days Inn. The officer located the vehicle and met with two males. Both were run through NCIC and one had a valid warrant for his arrest. He was arrested and incarcerated at Socorro County Detention Center.

A victim on Frontage Road reported at 11:38 a.m. the theft of a tractor. He said he was out of town the past two days and upon returning, he noticed his Mahindra tractor was missing. The victim said the tractor had a broken ignition so anyone could start it, but he could not think of any possible suspect in the case. The victim is to provide the tractor’s VIN so it could be entered into NCIC as stolen.

An officer took a call at 3:11 p.m. from a complainant on Fairgrounds Road who said she believed someone was attempting to collect unemployment using her identifiers and Social Security number. She told the officer she has received three letters from the unemployment office even though she currently has a job. The complainant said she had already contacted the unemployment fraud division and wanted to make a report locally. There are no suspects at the time of the report.

An officer was called at 4:56 p.m. for an abandoned vehicle in the roadway at the intersection of Spring Street and Aspen. The officer was able to determine who the registered owner was and met with the owner who lived in the area. The owner stated she sold the vehicle to a male several months ago and was no longer the owner. The officer had the vehicle towed from the scene.

A driver on Highway 60 was pulled over for expired registration. During the stop, the suspect was unable to provide information for the vehicle. A check with NCIC showed the suspect to have two valid warrants for his arrest. He was arrested and the vehicle was released to the family. The suspect was cited for the traffic and booked into the SCDC on warrants.

The sheriff’s office is located inside the Socorro County court house.

The following items were taken from reports at the Socorro County Sheriff’s Department

Apr. 16

A deputy was asked by another deputy at 9:30 a.m. to help him recover a stolen vehicle in Veguita that was found on a ditch bank. It was a black Chevrolet Avalanche with a New Mexico license plate. The vehicle was towed.

A female victim came to the Sheriff’s office at 2 p.m. to report an assault. The victim stated that the day before yesterday she asked her husband to pick her up from work. When he arrived she was speaking to a male customer and after they drove to Walmart he began to curse at her and accuse her of being interested in the customer. An argument ensued in the parking lot and the suspect threw the keys at the victim’s face and walked away. Yesterday, the husband confronted the victim’s adult son at her home and threw a barbecue grill against the side of the house. She said that today he texted her, asking her to bring him some belongings to where he was staying at Days Inn. She said he met her in the parking lot and cursed her, threatening to throw the hotel TV through her car window. When he went to retrieve the TV from the room, she put his belongings outside the car and drove away. Later, her employer called her and said her husband took a taxi to her workplace and started to scream for her to come out. When he received no reply, he started throwing things at the business’s door, and then attacked the cab driver when the driver tried to stop him. The victim reported the incidents to both the Sheriff’s Department and Socorro city police. An arrest warrant was obtained and the suspect was arrested the same day.

A deputy took a report at 10 p.m. from a woman who had been a victim of fraud. The victim said she had seen a truck advertised on Facebook for $1,800. She said she had contacted the seller who asked her to pay with eBay cards totaling $1,800. The truck was to be delivered by 8:30 p.m. but she never got the truck. The victim said she needed a report to be completed to try and get her money back. No further information at this time

Apr. 14

An officer responded at 12:30 a.m. to a call from dispatch regarding a wrong-way driver on Interstate 25 in the vicinity of mile marker 170. Another officer was already in pursuit with emergency lights activated in an attempt to stop the gray Ford Escape going southbound on the interstate. The officer was instructed to take up the primary position in the pursuit as the initial officer had fallen behind the suspect’s vehicle. The officer made a safe U-Turn and followed in behind the gray Ford Escape vehicle with emergency lights and sirens on at speeds of 90 mph, all the while giving out the location and speeds on the radio. At about mile marker 154, a State Police officer successfully used tire spikes on the suspect vehicle, which slowed down to about 35 mph but continued traveling south on Interstate 25. The vehicle was struggling to maintain the roadway and went off onto the shoulder several times, and gradually slowing in speed. As the suspect vehicle approached the Escondida exit ramp, the driver then crossed the median and began driving southbound in the northbound lane of traffic. The Ford Escape was driving straight toward oncoming vehicles at that time so the officer passed the suspect’s vehicle and began driving in the median in an attempt to warn oncoming vehicles. The suspect then turned into the wrong way access ramp onto County Road 91. The officer made a safe U-Turn to the off-ramp and followed in behind the vehicle again. At this point, the officer could see that several of the tires on the Escape were flat and the driver was struggling to maintain the roadway, swerving across both lanes of traffic on County Road 91 attempting to flee still. As the vehicle approached a tight turn, the driver was not able to make the turn because of the flat tires and instead, crashed out into some weeds throwing up a large amount of dust and dirt which limited visibility. When the dust began to settle and visibility began to return the officer exited the police vehicle and drew out his department-issued pistol. The driver’s side door was open and the vehicle was unoccupied. Other officers arrived to help search the surrounding area for the driver. The officer checked the ditch bank and concluded that the driver did not cross that direction. In the field north of the crashed Ford Escape the officer located a fresh footprint approximately 100 yards away. The footprints led across County road 91 and through a residential yard and into a desert area between residences. Eventually, the officer reacted to the sound of weeds rustling and breaking and saw a man wearing a black shirt stand up and start to run away. An assisting officer joined in the foot pursuit, and as the officer transitioned to a taser the suspect tripped and fell down in a residence’s driveway. The suspect was commanded to put his hands behind his back and would be tased if he did not comply. He refused to comply and was tased and handcuffed. An inventory search of the Escape turned up a glass pipe on the passenger floorboards with a white powdery substance which was believed to be methamphetamine. It was seized and was logged into evidence at the Sheriff’s office. The vehicle was towed.

An officer was dispatched to a tractor versus train accident at a railroad crossing near Highway 408 and Calle de Lemitar. Upon arrival, the officer met with the driver of the tractor, who said he was driving his tractor westbound on a ditch road over the railroad tracks, and pulled in front of a train that was traveling northbound. The train pulled the front driver-side tire of the tractor off. The train also pulled about a ton of counterweights off the tractor. The train engineer stated that he was traveling north on the tracks at around 39 mph when a tractor pulled in front of him. The engineer immediately pulled the emergency brake which stopped the train about 2/10ths of a mile north of the spot of the crash. The train was damaged on its right side, and the steps in both the front and back of the train took damage. There was also a big scrape about halfway down the locomotive. Burlington Northern-Santa Fe employees arrived and fixed the train up about two hours after the crash. The train moved on and the tractor was towed away from the scene.

El Defensor Chieftain